iPhone Special Edition may be unveiled on March 21

Apple headquarters has still not communicated the game plan for the new iPhone to its India team, but trade partners expect launch in the first phase in India.Gulveen Aulakh&Writankar Mukherjee | ET Bureau | March 12, 2016, 08:36 IST

This, they say, is to gain on the hype in social media in India around the new iPhone and also to take on Samsung's latest flagship, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, sales of which will begin on March 18.NEW DELHI: Apple's invitations for a March 21 event at its headquarters in Cupertino has set off a huge buzz in India about launch of a new product, which many suggest to be the new iPhone SE or special edition that may be meant for emerging markets, priced lower than its typical flagships.

Apple is widely expected to introduce the 4-inch iPhone SE with features from the iPhone 6 and 6s, such as a faster A9 processor, always-on Siri and Live Photos, but packaged in iPhone 5-sized casing. The device may have power button on top like iPhone 5 and support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, and VoLTE. "A new phone with the latest OS and attractive price point will excite people in India," said Gartner's research director Anshul Gupta.

Apple headquarters has still not communicated the game plan for the new iPhone to its India team, but trade partners expect launch in the first phase in India. Analysts expect three to four weeks' gap in launch time for key emerging countries, primarily India.

This, they say, is to gain on the hype in social media in India around the new iPhone and also to take on Samsung's latest flagship, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, sales of which will begin on March 18.

"It is expected that Apple will start shipping of the new iPhone to India in the first phase. Next month, the fight between Apple and Samsung will gain with the new iPhone and an expected price drop on the current entry model, iPhone 5s, which is expected to be sold at sub-Rs 20,000," said a senior trade executive. Some say Apple will further drop prices of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, widely considered the most accurate researcher on Apple, previously said in a note that iPhone SE will be priced at $450 (Rs 30,000 approx), while the price for iPhone 5s may well be cut by half. The mid-tier pricing will be extremely attractive in India, where Apple enjoys a massive aspirational value and huge brand recall. "Mid-price smartphones are well suited for emerging markets like India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Argentina and Vietnam," said Gartner's Gupta.

Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, said the price bracket of $500-550 (Rs 34,000 to Rs 37,000) will generate wide interest in India, which is turning out to be one of Apple's key markets.

The mid-price ($300-500) smartphone is still a small market segment in emerging countries with 10-15% of overall smartphone market, but experiencing high growth as smartphone install base has grown is these markets reaching over 200 million in India.

Given the high pace of growth in the Indian smartphone market, at a time when developed markets face stagnation, Apple may want to make most of the time here and improve its share in some local markets.

For instance, IDC data showed Apple having a larger share than Xiaomi that sells entry-level to mid-level priced phones in tier 2 and 3 cities in the October to December quarter. Apple leads in the premium segment (Rs 30,000 upwards) in the quarter, but trails Samsung for the full year ended December.

"As Apple is searching for growth outside mature markets, it understands that most of the countries with high smartphone growth currently have skewed smartphone price distribution towards entry to midrange," Pathak added.

Timing of launch, away from the September flagship launches, has also peaked interest among analysts and consumers alike. "I guess that there can be a trimmed down version of flagship 6s, while a refreshed flagship phone will come later during the year," Gupta added.

Samsung just launched its Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge at prices starting Rs 46,900, which analysts termed as competitive. The months following the launch generate most of Samsung's sales in the premium segment, taking the cyclic trend that is similar for Apple when it launches flagships in September.

Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, sales director Hari, accounts managers Sumit Anand and Sharauque among other employees have been named in the FIR registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by Naveen Kumar, owner of Indiranagar-based C-Store Company.